At the recent Middle East Fragrance Summit, put on the Fragrance Foundation Arabia and held in Dubai, it was announced the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will begin regulating the fragrance industry in 2013. It was noted that the protection of consumers and local manufacturers would be a top priority of this regulation, and Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority acting director general Mohammed Badri called on fragrance industry participants in the UAE to start self-regulating and taking an active role in the procedures.

In a comment to the Dubai newspaper The Gulf Today, Badri said discussions about the upcoming regulation will begin in January 2012 and will include representatives from the government, industry, consumer and education sectors. “We need people from the education side because we want to know what researches and studies have found out with regard to the ingredients used in the manufacture of fragrances that will be sold in the UAE. That way we will be protecting the health of the people,” he said.